EVERY WEEK (starting today), TheJournal.ie will offer you a selection of stats and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
2 – The number of bailouts that major bank Citigroup believe Ireland should negotiate – with a second one waiting in the wings in case things haven’t improved after the first. Both the government and the NTMA have ruled out seeking a second deal.
€720 – The amount per year that parish priests in the diocese of Cashel and Emly have been asked to contribute to a fund which covers the cost of child protection there. Curates have been asked to pay €600 to the voluntary fund.
38 – The number of Irish towns which are ‘clean to European norms‘, according to a survey of Irish Business Against Litter. Two areas – including north inner city Dublin – are ‘litter blackspots’. Trim is Ireland’s cleanest town.
240,000 – The number of Irish households who don’t plan on paying the household charge, according to a RedC opinion poll commissioned by Paddy Power.
28 – The number of weeks left until the London Olympic games – where preparation has not only been overshadowed by the continuing lockdown on the ticket sales website, but by the news that police had still managed to secretly sneak a bomb into the complex.
16 - The number of years since the last time an Irish gymnast made it to the Olympics. Step forward, Kieran Behan.
-0.0122 – The interest rate that Germany is currently paying on six-month loans – meaning that Germany is now actually making money by taking out loans.
25c – The extra tariff being levied on all Ryanair bookings from next week, which Ryanair blames on a new ‘EU tax on carbon emissions’.
2 – The age, in days, of Blue Ivy Carter before she had appeared in her first single. The new child of Beyoncé and Jay-Z lent vocals to her father’s song ‘Glory’, a celebration of her own birth.
€23,383 – The ‘leader’s allowance’ received by 12 independent members of the Seanad – who aren’t required to explain how they spend it.
7,500 – The number of e-voting machines the government is putting up for sale. There are also over 20,000 pieces of related paraphernalia being flogged off, as the government draws a line under the botched €55m experiment.
17 - The minimum number of clues that must be contained in a Sudoku puzzle to ensure it can be solved. That fact comes to you via UCD mathematician Gary McGuire.
10 - The number of IFTA nominations for TV crime drama Love/Hate, the most of any TV series this year.
950 - The number of jobs being cut by Ulster Bank – with 600 going in the Republic of Ireland and another 350 in the North.
301 - The age, in years, of the ‘St Francis Abbey’ brewery in Kilkenny – the home of Smithwick’s. It is to close next year as part of Diageo’s move to centralise brewing at an expanded complex in St James’s Gate.
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